On this level of Paradise, we are on Jupiter. This is the level of the ‘Blessed Rulers’. Those would be the infamous David of biblical fame but also Constantine and Phillip to name a few of the most famous. Most of the interactions in this level are with a lighted eagle figure caused by the dancing of the figures radiating light around Dante.

Since this was a pretty short and easier read than previous weeks, I breezed through this. I don’t have to much to say other than one subject. I am going to get to that in a minute. Sometimes it is hard to separate what I wanted and what is with this book. I wanted this to be a deep philosophical and theological experience. What I got was a work of fiction. I need to be OK with that.

Now, I am getting to the point. Amongst the Blessed Rulers were two that did not belong. That would be the Roman Emperor Trajan and also someone called Ripheus. These two supposedly predate Christianity and therefore we should expect that they would be in Level one of Hell, like Virgil.

As the story goes in the book, Trajan realizes the error in his ways after he dies and so God sends him back to earth for a couple of days in order to proclaim himself a Christian. Mind you, this was all done in the BC time period. So he was a Christian before it even existed in order to land in Jupiter. Ripheus was saved by Trajan and so there are two pagans that somehow made it to Heaven.

As I have stated before, I don’t necessarily believe that there is one true way to Heaven. Clearly Jews have made it and there was definitely a pre-Christian path. But, to have two pagans? That is just too much. It is one thing to be consistent with theology and belief but completely another to just add random characters.

Supposedly, this is to illustrate that God is the ultimate decision maker in all situations. Of course I believe that. But then it calls into question one of the ultimate tenants of Christianity. I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6). Both cannot be true and coexist with proper doctrine.

So, I rationalize this as fiction and a comedy. Like so much of the story, this is Dante’s take on the story with his personal vendettas and beliefs stirring the pot. With that, I go back to my opening, not quite what I was hoping for. In best form, this work could possibly stimulate those deeper discussions if you had a good command on such things. This is not a textbook.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week we will be on Saturn. That is Cantos XXI – XXII with another short week. As you can imagine, I am having a hard time drawing any meaningful conclusions with something as clearly skewed as this story. I don’t think perverted is an appropriate word here, but I think you get what I am saying. So, we will just keep moving forward to hopefully get to the end as soon as I can.